Memory timing issue or compatability issue?

[Dave3000]

I noticed that whenever I set my memory timings in the bios to Auto, sometimes my PC will shutdown when I click on "restart" in Windows 8.1 or Windows 7. What exactly happens is I clicked on restart in Windows 8.1 or Windows 7, Windows was then doing it's normal restart process, then I get a black screen for 20 seconds, then my computer shuts down, instead of restarting and I have to turn in on using the power button. This issue happens if I don't manually set my memory command rate to 2 in the bios. However, with the latest official bios, it only happened once in 5 days and I thought before it happened again that that bios fixed the issue because one of the fixes listed was "improved stability". With previous bioses this issue happened more often and with the beta bios it happened sooner. It's strange because memtest 86+, OCCT (90% memory used setting), Prime's Blend Test run without problems for hours-on-end with my RAM's command rate at 1 (Auto setting on my motherboard). My CPU is an i7-4930k and motherboard is an Asus P9X79 Pro. I also tried a 2nd Asus P9X79 Pro motherboard and still get that same issue with leaving the command rate at it's auto setting. Does an automatic system shutdown when you intended just to restart sound like a memory timing issue if the system is stable otherwise? My memory does not have listed a command rate in it's default profile, just in the XMP profile which is 2T, but I don't use the XMP profile because the SPD by default is 1600 9-9-9-24. Is it normal to have to set the command rate manually to 2 if using 32GB DDR3-1600 (4x8GB DIMMs) on an Ivy Bridge-E system for stability? Does it sound like a compatablity issue between my memory and motherboard?

 

[Cerb]

If setting the rate to 2T fixes your problem, then I think everything is fine, and the RAM is just borderline at its rated settings. With 4+ sticks, not a huge deal. RAM compatibility issues showing up on shut down, bootup, sleep, and wake, are not uncommon, if they exist, since those are times when the power lines are being massively loaded or unloaded.

 

[Soulkeeper]

I've never trusted default settings (although I havn't had a board with "XMP" profiles exposed yet).
It takes more time, but I always like to go thru and manually set the timings and subtimings, testing for stability along the way.

People could potentially recommend some settings if you post a link to your memory specs and/or current settings (voltage and others).

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm not new to this at all.

In the course of troubleshooting a very intermittent stability problem -- sometimes as infrequent as three months -- I came across a post in the NUANCE software forums, pertaining to the PaperPort version I use.

NUANCE Paperport 14 is notorious as a source of instability that one might otherwise think is "hardware." Going back a decade or more, they had touted their software as having the ability to share files on a network. I had ALWAYS assumed such to be the case. Now I find that only the "pro" version guarantees it. So even accessing files on a network server can cause BSODs and crashes (although I'm still doing it.)

The poster swore up and down that setting his G.SKILL RAM under the "XMP" option "fixed" his problem with the software. Frankly, with the complexity of software these days, I don't know what to think.

But I had punched in my DDR3-1866 settings manually. I had always done that. I changed to the XMP setting -- assured to provide the same DDR3 speed and timings. I speculated as to how the XMP profile settings might tweak the "Advanced timings" which we usually leave set to "Auto." So I sent an e-mail to G.SKILL support.

They wrote back that the XMP profile setting -- on motherboards on their tested list (including mine) -- do, indeed, change the advanced timings, perhaps making them "more aggressive.

Anandtech recently published an article about this, and I think it urges people to use the XMP profile settings, which they seemed to imply provided an "optimal configuration."

So while the XMP profiles were also intended to make it easier for "newbies" who constantly complain that their DDR3-1600 RAM only runs at 1333 when they put it in the system, the XMP profiles apparently provide tweaks to the advanced timings as well.

I COULD ask why the OP needs 32 GB of RAM, but that's his choice. The problem with RAM in these amounts is the time it takes to test it thoroughly. It took me 5 days to complete the "thorough 1000% coverage testing 16GB with HCI-Memtest-64. Of course, you could get by with a 300% or 500% test -- if you had the RAM set to its spec speed and timings.

That suggests something of the costs and benefits of overclocking RAM beyond its spec, versus the ease of downclocking RAM below its spec, or simply running the RAM at its stated spec.

ALL OF THIS PROLIX DRIVEL BEING SAID, the OP should check the configurator or QML listing for his motherboard at the RAM-maker's site, or conversely the mobo-maker will also have a QVL list of tested RAM. He didn't mention what type of RAM he'd bought in a 32GB kit or two kits -- whatever it was.